I found the old diary of José, one of the first students at our high school, hidden in the school's library. As a first-year Spanish-language student I had difficulty translating it. I was very curious about what had happened to José and to solve the old mystery of where he was buried.

I stayed in the closed library as it became night, one hundred Halloweens later. I lit candles and read the book. It was slow going, translating and learning José's story.

José had died mysteriously on Halloween night, a long time ago. He was an orphan, according to the legend, and was relentlessly bullied by a trio of cruel older boys. Somehow, he had died, and then he was buried somewhere in an unmarked grave.

The diary was written by José and included a poem he had written, after having a dream about his own death. He wrote that 'if dreams come true, then dreams come true'. José's dream was to be friends with everyone at the school, someday, and to protect the students from bullying. He would kindly kick some butt and reform any bullies, solve everyone's problems and even find a home - haunting the halls of his beloved high school forever.

Then he had dreamed that he would die tragically and would remain asleep - dead - until someone wanted to become his first friend. He reasoned that if one dream should come true then so should all dreams. The last page of the diary had words that he loved, his own name being called upon by a new friend.

The simplicity and thoughtfulness of his writing inspired me. I felt like I knew José and that if he was right, then I could be his new, first friend. I read the words out loud, pronouncing them carefully to preserve the magic:

"Hh-oh-zey mi amigo ven aquí." I carefully said, in the dark of the library, late that night. I sat on the floor with the candles around me, reading the words out loud into the darkness. The poem repeated twice more, the exact same words:

"José mi amigo ven aquí." I read with confidence, the words meaning: "Come here, José, my friend."

Then I read the final line and felt a chill. Terror gripped me as I was alone in the dark. A glow was forming in the air near me. I wanted to scream, afraid of the ghost.

My eyes were wide with fear, my pulse racing. I was very afraid of the presence of the dead. The ghost began to take shape, the air became cold and I tried to crawl backwards away from it. I finally screamed as I saw the form of the boy José take shape. I tried to get up and run, but the laughing ghost gave chase.

I could not escape from the dead. I was cornered and the smiling ghost of José spoke to me in Español. Somehow, I understood him perfectly, like there were psychic subtitles in my mind. He laughed playfully and told me:

"You are my first friend. I am so happy to meet you. This is a dream come true!" José told me.

I trembled in dread and stuttered: "You're a ga-ga-ga ghost!"

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"That's right. I knew I would be, before I would get a friend." José sounded a little sad; but perked back up and asked: "But hey, I am here, now. Want to play?"

I tried to calm my breathing, to slow my heartbeat. I took deep breaths and leaned on the wall, sliding down it until I sat. After I stared at the floating ghost, I eventually agreed to play with him.

José was a good sport. We played Hide & Seek which was his favorite game. He was so happy to have someone to play with that he kept letting me win, even though he could easily have found me or caught me with his ghostly powers. After a while, I started to forget my fears, although he did enjoy startling me whenever he decided to find me, with a friendly:

"Boo!"

As dawn approached, he began to fade. I asked him if he would be alright and he told me he could always come to me or to anyone if they would just say the words, while in the school. Then he mentioned that he could never go too far from where he was secretly buried.

From that night on we became good friends. I introduced him to anyone who dared to sneak into the library or anywhere else in the school and speak the invocation. All he wanted to do was play and tell jokes, and his jokes were hilarious, but things kept happening. Students had all sorts of problems, and he could help with anything.

By the end of the school year, José the Wholesome Ghost had made friends with the entire school. He had solved countless mysteries, resolved conflicts, advised students, listened to people's problems and played a few fun pranks.

Most of all, he rid our school of bullies, the one thing José would not tolerate. José used his ghost powers to terrorize bullies and force them to reform. I learned the horrible truth about what had happened to him.

A hundred years before I had summoned him, José was tragically killed by three bullies, their own ghosts still bound to the halls that he roamed. Poltergeist activity began and increased, and the evil trio of ghosts caused all sorts of mischief and problems, bullying from beyond the grave.

José could do nothing to stop them, because his death was linked to them. As the three evil bully ghosts became more powerful, José weakened. Just before graduation, his best friends gathered, me included, to summon him one last time.

We knew what we had to do. We had to exhume his remains and give him a proper burial. If we did, he would be free, and the evil ghosts would be gone forever. We called him up:

"José, my amigo, come to us." We chanted. When he formed before us, he was in his winter formals. He knew what we were doing, and he approved, it was his wish that the school be free of the three bad ghosts.

"One last game of Hide & Seek." José smiled for us, lifting our spirits.

We searched for him as he gave us clues, making it the best - and creepiest - Hide & Seek game ever played. When we all gathered by an old rusty janitor's locker in the basement, we knew we had to smash open the lock. There was a lingering horror in our eyes, and I felt a chill of dread. Then we broke the lock and opened the rusty old locker. We were all afraid of what we would find.

His body was there, stuffed horribly in the locker, where he had expired.

We were all crying at the sight of his pitiful remains, but José told us a good joke:

"It's about time someone found me, I was starting to get a little cramped in there."

We laughed in relief with our faces wet with tears. We all loved José and seeing his dead body was heart breaking. His cheerfulness melted the chill in the air.

The right thing to do was to go to the police and to tell them that it was time to close the case on what had happened all those years ago. The troubles in our school, caused by the bully ghosts that had risen to reenact their wickedness, stopped abruptly. A dignified interment was given to our friend José, and he was to rest in peace.

As the entire school gathered for his centennial memorial service, the principal gave the eulogy. She ended it with words that forever held meaning in all our hearts:

"As we lay you to rest, José, our school spirit lives on, with your memory - our friend, forever."